Diet Cure for Hypertension - Home remedies, symptom, cause, treatment of Hypertension

What is Hypertension?

Hypertension or high blood pressure, as it is more commonly known, is regarded as the silent killer. It is a disease of the modern age. The fast pace of life and the mental and physical pressures caused by the industrial and metropolitan environments give rise to psychological tensions. Worry and mental tension increase the adrenaline in the blood stream and this, in turn, causes the pressure of the blood to rise.

What are the symptom of Hypertension?

Mild and moderate hypertension may not produce any symptoms for years. The first symptom may appear in the form of pain in the back of the head and neck on waking in the morning, which soon disappears. Some of the other usual symptoms of hypertension are dizziness, aches and pains in the arms, shoulder region, leg and back, palpitation, pain in the heart region, frequent urination, nose-bleeding, nervous tension and fatigue, crossness, emotional upsets, tiredness and wakefulness.

What are the causes of Hypertension?

The most important causes of hypertension are stress and a faulty style of living. People who are usually tense suffer from high blood pressure, especially when under stress. If the stress continues for a long period, the pressure may become permanently raised and may not come down even after removal of the stress. An irregular lifestyle, smoking and an excessive intake of intoxicants, tea, coffee, cola drinks and refined foods destroy the natural pace of life. The expulsion of waste and poisonous matter from the body is prevented and the arteries and the veins become slack. Hardening of the arteries, obesity, diabetes and severe constipation also lead to hypertension. Other causes of high blood pressure are excessive intake of pain-killers, table salt, food allergies and eating a high-fat, low-fibre diet and processed foods deficient in essential nutrients.

Dietary Treatment of Hypertension and home remedies

Drugs do not remove the cause, nor do they cure the condition. All drugs against hypertension without exception, are toxic and have distressing side-effects. They safest way to cure hypertension is to eliminate the poisons from the system which cause it. Persons with high blood pressure should always follow a well-balanced routine of proper diet, exercise and rest.

Diet is of primary importance. Meat and eggs cause blood pressure to rise more than any other food. The pressure is lowered and blood clotting diminished by par-taking a diet with a higher fruit content, lower protein and non-flesh diet. A natural diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables, instead of a traditional diet, is helpful in getting rid of the poisons from the body. A hypertension patient should start the process of healing by living on all- fruit diet for atleast a week, and take fruits at five-hourly intervals, thrice a day. He should take juicy fruits such as oranges apples, pears, mangoes, guavas, pineapples and grapes. Milk may be taken after a week of a diet of fruits only. The milk should be fresh and boiled only once. The patient can be permitted cereals in the diet after two weeks.

Recent studies have revealed an important link between dietary calcium and potassium and hypertension. Researchers have found that people who take potassium-rich diets have a low incidence of hypertension even if they do not control their salt-intake. They have also found that people with hypertension do not seem to get much calcium in the form of dairy products. The two essential nutrients seem to help the body throw off excess sodium and are involved in important functions which control the working of the vascular system. Potassium is found in abundance in fruits and vegetables and calcium in dairy products.

The patient of hypertension should follow a plan of a well-balanced diet in which the constituents of food should be approximately in the following proportion : carbohydrate twenty per cent, protein ten to fifteen per cent, fat five per cent and fruits and vegetable sixty to sixty-five percent. In this plan, one main meal should be based on raw foods while the second main meal may consist of cooked foods. Meals should be taken slowly and in a relaxed atmosphere. Food should be well masticated as the process of digestion begins in the mouth. The dinner should not normally be taken late.